The objective of this work was to study the feedlot performance of Hereford, bulls or steers, produced by two years old cows, kept in feedtot during 193 days, from weaning to slaughter at fourteen months of age, reaching carcass weight of 205kg at slaughter. The roughage/concentrate ratio was reduced yadually, beginnig with 70/30 and ending with 40/60. The roughages used were sorghum silage, chopped sugar cane and oats hay. Bulls showed a higher average daily gain (1.23 vs 1.09 kg) and better food convertion (5.8 vs 6.8) than steers. The efficiency of converting Mcal of digestible energy into kilogram of weight gain, was also better for bull calves (16.0 vs 18.6 Mcal/kg). Consumption of dry matter and digestible energy, booth adjusted for metabolic size were 109. l vs 106.1 g and 299. l vs 291.2 Kcal for steers and bulls, respectively.
bulls; early slaughter; feedlot; Hereford; steers
